Lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the unusual way in which Gov. Rick Perry scrounged for cash recently to pay for deploying the National Guard to the Texas-Mexico border.

Instead of asking the Legislative Budget Board to sign off on a “budget execution” transfer of money, Perry invoked a 1993 law to certify an emergency exists because an influx of unaccompanied child migrants from Central America.

Perry, who has said federal border guards are so distracted they can’t deter illegal entries by criminals and even terrorists, has diverted $38.7 million from a Department of Public Safety fund that’s been piling up court-case fees for an expected future state purchase of radio equipment for emergency responders.

The Legislature hasn’t yet given a green light for purchase of the “inter-operable” equipment, which made the money a tempting place for a quick pinch, budget experts said.

Members of the 10-member budget oversight board, which held its annually required meeting Tuesday, though, said they want the radio equipment money replenished.

Several questioned why Perry didn’t ask for their usual approval of proposed money maneuvers when the Legislature is not in session.

Perry could have dipped into his own office’s disaster relief account, which currently holds $63.3 million, said Republican Reps. Drew Darby of San Angelo and John Zerwas of Richmond.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who has supported Perry’s deployment of 1,000 Guard personnel, said he wasn’t thrilled by the method used to foot the tab.

“I would’ve preferred to have gone in almost immediately, right after the activation of the National Guard, and addressed this issue immediately” with a budget execution vote by the board, Dewhurst told reporters. “But apparently the governor’s office felt that was going to take longer.”

The $38.7 million from the radio fund and the use of $3.5 million in federal criminal-justice funds will repay DPS for its stepped-up activity at the border and pay for National Guard costs for two to three months, Dewhurst said.

But he warned that the money will be exhausted by early October. The budget board and Perry’s office will have to look elsewhere in the state budget if they want to extend the Guard’s deployment beyond 90 days, Dewhurst said.

Nelson said, though, that it’s unfair for state taxpayers to bear a cost caused by federal failures in immigration enforcement.

“I sure would like for them [federal officials] to foot the bill so we can spend it on education, water and highways,” she told reporters.

2007 AP Photo/Harry Cabluck

Mike Morrissey, right, Gov. Rick Perry's longtime guru on the state budget, said Tuesday that concern about hurricanes prompted Perry to look beyond his disaster fund for money to pay for National Guard troops at the Mexico border.

House Republicans who sit on the board were more critical of Perry’s emergency declaration, which only involved sending papers back and forth to Comptroller Susan Combs over two business days last week.

“We couldn’t have dealt with this in a budget execution kind of activity?” Zerwas asked Mike Morrissey, Perry’s deputy chief of staff and senior adviser.

Morrissey predicted there will be calls on the $63 million disaster fund Perry controls. He mentioned hurricanes, wildfires and possible disasters such as last year’s deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in West.

“We are absolutely willing to use some of that money for this purpose,” he said.

He added, “The timing of trying to do budget execution at this meeting was a problem.”

Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Houston Democrat who’s been a top budget writer for more than a decade, said he fears Perry has set a bad precedent. Bypassing the requirement that lawmakers approve a fund shift could embolden future governors, he said.

“The next governor … can declare almost any situation an emergency and then tap funds,” Turner said.
Morrissey, though, said that with 1,100 undocumented immigrants being apprehended each day in South Texas in recent weeks, Perry had to act decisively.

He promised the governor’s office will work with lawmakers in coming weeks to identify unused state money that can be tapped to pay for extended use of the National Guard.

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The blog for the Dallas Morning News politics team tracks Dallas Fort Worth area, Texas and national campaigns.